Combination valve



Jan. 5, 1960 J. K. HORNE COMBINATION VALVE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb.23, 1956 uw w a 657 MLV ..M M E s m "H7 o w ,if m an IIHN 5/ a n 4 ,l lb X, t f a 62S c J 5 v a mx |v M 7u a E. lllll l m I l I f INVEN TOR.ARES K. HORNE Arrow,

Jan. 5, 1960 J. K. HoRNE 2,919,708

' COMBINATION VALVE Filed Feb.. 23, 1956 a sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR. l 95JAMES K. Home ATTORNEY United States Patent O COMBINATION VALVE James K.Home, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Minneapolis-Honeywell RegulatorCompany, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationFebruary 23, 1956, Serial No. '567,221

Claims. (Cl. 137-66) This invention relates to combination valves of thetype generally used in the control of gas heating systems. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to a combined valve having amanually operable plug valve, a diaphragm valve, a pilot valve and adiaphragm controller valve wherein the last mentioned two valves areadapted to be energized by a very low voltage current, such as thatgenerated by a thermopile heated by a pilot burner.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a combination valvewhich provides all of the necessary valving functions required in acontrol system for a gas heating plant;

Another object of the invention is to provide a combination controlwhich provides for the manual controlling of the gas flowing to a mainburner and a pilot burner, provides an automatically controlled valvefor the main gas ow, and provides a safety pilot valve for the pilot gastlow;

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a single controldevice, a control arrangement wherein the controller for the main gasflow and the pilot gas ilow are each energized by the same power sourceso that the main gas valve is capable of opening only when the pilot gasvalve is open.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a simple andinexpensive control device wherein the means for manually controllingthe gas llow also provides means for resetting the safety valve which,in turn, indirectly controls the main valve;

A still further object of the invention is to provide an arrangement ina combination valve wherein the resetting means for the safety valve,which means also moves the main valve, does not require that the mainvalve be in a position preventing ow to the main burner while placingthe safety mechanism and the pilot gas valve into their on positions anddoes not require, thereafter, manual movement of the main valve to itson position;

Still further objects of the invention will become apparent upon readingthe following detailed description of the invention in conjunction withthe accompanying drawing wherein;

yFigure l is a vertical sectional view at a slight angle through thecombination valve, along the line 1 1 of Figure 4 of the drawing;

Figure 2 is a sectional view along the line 2 2 of the upper twocastings of the valve body;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the lower casting of the valve bodytaken along the line 3 3 of Figure 5 of the drawing;

-Figure 4 is a plan view of the control device with the top casting orcover removed and a portion of the intermediate casting broken away;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the lower casting of the valve body;

LFigure 6 is a vertical sectional view through the lower casting, alongthe line 6 6 of Figure 5; and

Figure 7 is a schematic showing of the wiring dia- "ice gram of thecontrol valve in a control system for a heating plant.

While the combination control device or valve is obviously readilyadaptable to the control of various types of fluids, it will bedescribed in its preferred embodiment as being used for the control offuel gas in a heating system.

As can be best seen in Figure 1 of the drawing, the valve body consistsof a lower casting 11, a middle or intermediate casting 12, and a top orupper casting 13. The three castings are adapted to be secured tightlytogether by means of a plurality of bolts 14 extending through alignedbores in the upper and intermediate castings and into a threaded bore 15in the lower casting, with a sealing gasket and a diaphragm 17 betweenthe intermediate and lower castings and a sealing gasket 18 between theintermediate and upper casting.

The lower casting has a threaded inlet 19 and a threaded outlet 20 witha transversely extending conical bore 21 opening into the inlet 19 and apartition 22 between the inlet 19 and bore 21 and the outlet 20. Thepartition 2-2 provides with the outer walls of the lower casting apassage 23 that starts at the outlet of the bore 21 and extends upwardlyaround the outlet passage 20 and terminates in an annular passage orchamber 23a in the upper surface of the lower casting. The annularchamber 23a forms a valve seat 24. A diaphragm 17, having a backingplate 25 secured thereto by means of a bolt 26, is adapted to co-operatewith the seat 24 to control the llow of gas out of the outlet 20 and toa main burner M. A spirally coiled compression spring 27 is secured atits lower end to the backing plate 25 by means of the bolt 26. Thisspring reacts against the bottom of the intermediate casting 12 tonormally bias the diaphragm 17 against the seat 24.

Positioned in the bore 21 is a cone-shaped, manuallyoperable plug valve28 that is resiliently held in the bore 21 by means of a coiledcompression spring 29 positioned in an axial bore 28a extending inwardlyfrom the large diameter end of the plug valve. The spring reacts againsta plate 30 secured to the outer surface of the casting 11 by means ofbolts 31. The plug valve 28 has a transversely extending passage 28htherein which is adapted to conduct gas from the inlet 19 to the passage23 when the plug valve 28 is in its on and start or light pilotpositions but is manually rotatable to an off position to prevent theflow of gas therethrough. The plug valve is adapted to be rotated bymeans of a at sided shaft 32 extending into a at sided socket 28C formedin the small end of the plug valve. A control knob 33 is secured to theouter end of the shaft 32 by means of a snap ring 34 positioned in anannular groove near the outer end thereof and is held in assembledrelationship with the plug valve by means of a snap ring 3S positionedon the other side of a cover plate 36 from the knob 33. The plate 36 isheld against a side of the casting 11 by means of bolts 37. A groove 38extends approximately half way around the plug valve and terminates atabutment shoulder 39 which serves a purpose to be hereinafter described.A radically extending arm 28d on the valve 28 co-operates with the endsof an arcuate groove 21a to stop rotation of the 4nlug valve at its offand start positions.

The intermediate casting 12 has a recess 40 in the bottom surfacethereof to form a pressure chamber over the diaphragm 17 when the twocastings 11 and 12 are secured together. The casting 12 has a largerecess 41 in the upper surface -thereof in Which is located adiaphragm-controlled valve and a pilot gas safety valve.

The diaphragm controller or supply and exhaust valve consists of a ballValve 42 positioned between a lower valve seat member 43 and an uppervalve seat member 44. The valve seat members are retained in a threadedbore 41a by having the seat member 44 threaded into the bore 41a andinto abutting engagement with the valve seat member 43. The opening 43athrough the valve seat member 43 communicates, through a passage 45,with a threaded outlet or bleed port 46, which is adapted to beconnected by a suitable conduit (not shown) to a bleed burner B on apilot burner bracket (not shown), to conduct gas from the chamber 40 tothe pilot burner P where the gas may be burned. A passage 47 extendsfrom the chamber 40 to the space between the valve seat members 43 and44 so as to make the chamber 40 in communication with either the outlet46, as mentioned above, or the chamber 41 through a valve seat opening44a in the member 44. The chamber 41 is constantly in communication withthe chamber 23;: through a bore 48 (Figures 4 and 5) extending from thechamber 41 near bore 69 to a transversely extending bore 49communicating with the passage 23. It is thus seen that gas can ow fromthe outlet side of the plug valve 28 at all times to the chamber 41 sothat gas can low from the chamber 41 into the chamber 40 above thediaphragm valve if the ball valve 42 is in engagement with the valveseat 43a. If valve 42 is against the seat 44a, gas will bleed from thechamber 40 to reduce the gas pressure over the diaphragm and permit theinlet gas pressure to open the diaphragm valve.

The valve 42 is actuated through its stern 42a which, in turn, isconnected to an armature lever 50. The lever 59 is made up of a pivotedmember 50a of magnetic material, which has a downwardly struck portionStlb that is adapted to rock on a laterally extending `arm 51a o abracket 51. The bracket is secured to the bottom of the chamber 41 bymeans of a bolt 52 (Figure 4). The lever 50 is retained in properalignment with a core 52 of an electromagnet by means of a steel plate53 having a pair of L-shaped tines 54 positioned on opposite sides ofthe lever 50'. Riveted to the arm 50a is a thin sheet of stainless steel55 having notches 55a therein,

adapted to receive the upwardly extending ends of the tines 54, to holdthe lever 50 in proper pivotal relationship with the core 52. Downwardlystruck detents 56 in the arm Sila engage in aligned holes in the member55 to hold these two parts in proper alignment. An arm 57, also rivetedto the arm 50a has a downwardly extending apertured portion 57a whichreceives the upper end of a coiled tension spring 53 which is anchoredat its lower end to the free end of an adjustable lever 59. The member57 has a forked end that registers with an annular groove in the upperend of the adjustable stem 42a and is retained in said annular groove byhaving a hole in the member 55 engage the upper end of the valve stemand hold it against longitudinal movement in the other member 57. Therivets through the members 55, 57 and 50a retain the valve stem inassembled relationship with respect to the members 55 and 57. The lever59 is pivoted at its other end on a pivot 60 to the bracket 51. Thelever is adjustable upwardly and downwardly by means of a screw 61threaded into a threaded bore 62 in the bottom of the chamber 41. A coil63 surrounds the core 52 and has one of its leads connected to aterminal member 65 and the other lead thereof connected to the terminal67.

As can best be seen in Figure 1 of the drawing, ow of gas to the pilotburner P is controlled by a valve 68 adapted to seat over an outletpassage 69 communicating with a threaded outlet 70 which is adapted toreceive a conduit (not shown) leading to the pilot burner. The valve iscarried on one end of a lever 71, rockably mounted on a pivot 72. Thepivot has its ends resting in slots 73 and 74 in the bottom of thechamber 41. The other end of the lever 71 carries an armature 75 that isadapted to be held by an electromagnet 76 but is incapable o beingattracted thereby when the two coils 77 and 78 of the electromagnet,which are series connected and mounted on separate legs of a horseshoeshaped core 79, are energized by 'a thermopile. Core member 79 issecured to a bracket or mounting arm 86 by means of a screw 81 and thearm 80 is, in turn, secured to the bottom of the chamber 41 by means ofa screw 82. The valve 68 is normally biased to its closed position overthe passage 69 by means of a coil compression spring 83 bearing at oneof its ends against the lever 71, intermediate the valve 68 and thepivot 72, and bearing at its other end against an adjustable nut 84 on aswivelly mounted bolt 85 extending through a mounting plate 86. Themounting plate 86 is secured to two spaced bosses 87 and 88 by means ofscrews 39. One lead from one of the coils is connected to the terminal67 while the other lead 91 from the other coil is connected to theterminal 92 located below the terminal 67. The coils 77 and 78 areelectrically joined by a lead wire 93. A jumper wire 94 leads from theterminal 92 to a terminal 95 located below the terminals 65.

The valve 68 is adapted to be moved to its open position, with thearmature in engagement with the upper end of the core 79, against thebias of spring 83 by means of a stem 96 extending upwardly through abore 97 in the lower casting 11 and a bore 98 in the middle casting 12.The lower end of the stem 96 is adapted to be engaged by the shoulder 39on the plug valve 2S so that as the plug valve is rotated by the knob33, from the on position a slight distance to the pilot or light pilotposition, as indicated on the plate 36 by suitable indicia (not shown),the stem 96 will be raised to engage the lever 71 between the pivot 72and the valve 63 and to open the valve 68. An annular abutment shoulder99, formed on the stem 96 intermediate its ends, bears against an uppersurface of the casting 11 in its retracted position, where it isresiliently held by means of a coiled compression spring 100. The springis positioned between the upper surface of the abutment shoulder 99 andthe shoulder formed by the junction of the large and small diameterbores of the step-bore 9S. The spring 100 is sufciently strong to returnthe plug valve and the control knob from the pilot position to the onposition.

With the combination valve electrically connected into the heatingsystem as shown in Figure 7, that is, with the inlet 19 connected to asource of gas supply, the outlet 20 connected to main burner M, thepilot burner outlet 70 connected to pilot burner P, the bleed outlet 46connected to a bleed tube B, the terminal 65 connected by lead 101 tothe fixed end of the room thermostat R, the terminal connected by lead102 to the other terminal of the room thermostat, the terminal 92connected to one terminal of the thermopile T by lead 103, and theterminals 67 connected to the other terminal of the thermopile by a lead104, the control system is ready to be placed into operation.

Operation Assuming that the plug valve 28 is in its olf position, thatis with the large land portion of the plug valve positioned across theopening from the inlet 19, there can be no gas flow to either the mainburner or the pilot burner. Under these conditions, there is no gaspressure in either the chamber 23a or in the chamber 40 below and abovethe diaphragm 18, respectively. Therefore, the diaphragm is resilientlyheld against the valve seat 24 by the spring 27. Also under theseconditions, the thermopile is not generating any current, due to therebeing no llame present at the pilot burner, and the coil 63 isconsequently de-energized causing the valve 42 to be in a positionclosing the bleed passage and permitting gas to have free access to thechamber 40. The coils 77 and 7 8 of the safety pilot valve- 68 are alsode-energized, causing valve 6810 bein its closed position. Byrotatingtheplug valve 28 from its o position past its on position aslight distance, to cause the shoulder 39 on the plug valve to lift thestem 96 against the bias of springs 100 and 83, the pilot valve 68 willbe raised to its open position and the armature 75 lowered intoengagement with the core 79 of the magnet 76. This will permit gas toflow to the pilot burner which may then be lighted. The gas will alsoflow to the chambers 23a and 40 simultaneously so the diaphragm valvewill remain closed, thus preventing gas flow to the main burner duringthe relighting operation. After the hot junction end of the thermopilehas been suiciently heated by the pilot flame as to cause energizationof the coil 77, releasing of the control knob 33 will permit the spring100 to return the plug valve to its on position, as illustrated inFigure 3. The system is then under the control of the room thermostat.When the thermostat contacts close, the coil 63 is energized causing thevalve 42 to move from the bleed seat to the supply seat and to vent thechamber 40 through the bleed tube B to the pilot burner. This causes thediaphragm valve to open and gas to be supplied to the main burner in aconventional manner.

Upon ame failure at the pilot burner, magnet 76 becomes de-energizedcausing closure of valve 68. Simultaneously, llame failure causesde-energization of coil 63 and movement of the valve 42 from the supplyseat to the bleed seat to cause closing of the diaphragm valve. It isthus seen that de-energization of the thermopile T causes both the pilotvalve and the main valve to become independently closed. It is alsoobvious that the main diaphragm gas valve cannot be moved to its openposition unless there is a ame present at the pilot burner.

When it is desirable to shut down the heating system, it is onlynecessary that the control knob 33 be rotated to its ot position wherethe passage 28b in the plug valve is out of registration with the inletpassage, which cuts ot the pilot gas supply as well as the main gassupply.

From the above description, it can be readily seen that the combinationvalve supplies the entire valve needs of a heating system in a verycompact unit. While I have described the preferred embodiment of theinvention, it is deemed to be obvious to those skilled in the art thatvarious modications may be made in the invention without departing fromthe spirit thereof. Therefore, the scope of the invention is to bedetermined primarily from the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a control device, the combination comprising a valve body havingan inlet and a iirst outlet and a valve seat therebetween and a secondoutlet and a bleed port, a manually operable valve therein movablebetween oth on and start positions and having an inlet connected to theinlet of said valve body and an outlet chamber 6 connected to the inletside of said valve seat, a fluid pressure operated valve cooperable withsaid valve seat on the inlet side thereof and having a pressure chamberconnected through a passage to the outlet of said manually operablevalve and through a second passage to said bleed port, an electricallyoperated supply and exhaust control valve between said pressure chamberand said passages for controlling iluid flow to and from said pressurechamber, a movable Wall between said pressure chamber and the outletchamber -of said manually operable valve for actuating the pressureoperated valve in response to pressure differences on opposite sides ofsaid movable wall, a manually-reset safety valve in said body connectedto the outlet of said manually operable valve and to said second outlet,said safety valve having electrically energizable means capable of.holding said safety valve in its open position but not capable ofattractingy it to its open position when said means is energized, andmeans including means on said manually operable valve for actuating saidsafety valve to its open position when said manually operable valve ismoved from its on position to its start position, a single power source,both of said electrically operated valves being arranged so as to beenergized by the said power source and so arranged that when they becomede-energized the safety valve closes and the control valve moves to aposition which supplies iluid to said pressure chamber to force thepressure operated valve to its closed position.

2. A control device as dened in claim 1, in combination with resilientmeans for automatically moving said manually operable valve from itsstart position to its on position when said means for actuating saidmanually operable valve is released.

3. The combination of claim 2, wherein said resilient means is locatedbetween said manually operable valve and said safety valve.

4. The control device as defined in claim 1, wherein said movable wallis a diaphragm.

5. A control device as deined in claim l, in which the manually operablevalve provides substantially full flow between its inlet and outlet whenthe valve is -in its start position.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,297,854 Alfery Oct. 6, 1942 2,464,945 Rouse Mar. 22, 1949 2,566,372Ray Sept. 4, 1951 2,588,179 Tho'rnbery Mar. 4, 1952 2,591,897 Weber Apr.8, 1952 2,658,514 Meusy Nov. 10, 1953 2,687,738 Thornbery Aug. 3,1, 1954

